Close your eyes and envision the nightmare of owning a smartphone: You put the beautiful gorgeous mini computing wonder on the bar or next to the sink in the restroom and left it there. Panic. Terror. Stress. All three hit at once as you envision your 'life' in the hands of someone who picked it up, pocketed it and is smiling at the treasure find.
But then you take a deep breath and remembered that it's locked and it's just a matter of using GPS and the handy 'find me' app to try and get it back. At least the thief can't use the phone, check out last night's party photos, read your texts or cause any or all mayhem.
That's what Google hopes to accomplish with its new smart lock mode called 'on-body detection' which taps a smartphone's accelerometer to determine it should lock down the device as its owner has set it down and it isn't in a hand or pocket. Another feature of the smart lock is that users can set 'zones' where it will not lock when set down.
Basically the smartphone security app is smart enough to know when you're holding the phone and when you've put it down someplace. Once you pick it up or put the smartphone in a pocket you will have to unlock it to use it.
As one report notes, the combination of the new smart lock and Google's Device Protection feature make for a pretty secure approach.
The Device Protection feature, which arrived via Android 5.1 and preloaded on Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, ensures a lost or stolen device will stayed locked until the owner signs into it via a Google account.
Device Protection, a feature that will ensure that a lost or stolen device will remain locked until the original owner signs into it with his or her Google account. Similar to Apple's Activation Lock, the feature works even if someone resets a stolen device to factory settings. This feature, Google says, will be available on devices that ship with Android 5.1, as well as the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
While Google has not yet confirmed or formally announced the new smart lock security app, one media reports that it's being seen on Nexus device. Another states that the app offers this message to users when in use: "If you unlock your device and hand it to someone else, your device also stays unlocked as long as the other person continues to hold or carry it."
